Events that move us - topics featured in the Aug. 1996 issue of 'Nation's Business' - Brief Article - Editorial

Nation's Business, August, 1996 by Mary Y. McElveen

Have we entered some kind of time warp? I wondered this recently as the information spread about the burning of black churches in the South. The headlines wouldn't have been so hard to believe 25 or 30 years ago--but today?

I wondered how the congregations must feel and where they would worship. I thought of all the hard-earned money that had been contributed by individuals over many years to build those churches and wondered what it must be like to face having to rebuild.

My thoughts jumped to Herman Russell in Atlanta--one of seven entrepreneurs featured in our cover story. I wondered how this successful businessman, who had gained the determination to excel partly as a result of the discrimination he experienced in his youth, viewed these current events.

Did he, like me, see them as hard to believe in 1996, or simply as a price being paid by the parishioners on their way to something better? Surely he could identify with such a transition.

For that matter, all seven entrepreneurs featured in our cover story, written by Senior Editor Michael Barrier, could identify with the notion of transition. They all made a major one--from founders of small companies to owners of bigger, highly successful businesses.

Barrier sought to discover what had sparked their entrepreneurial drive and what had sustained them and their companies through their transitions. We believe the insights and determination of these "master builders" will provide encouragement for the entrepreneurs who hope to make such leaps themselves. The story, "Entrepreneurs Who Excel," begins on Page 18.

And for the churchless parishioners, we offer encouragement as well.

While our cover story looks at the present partly by reviewing the past, our technology feature provides a glimpse of the future. Senior Writer Tim McCollum's article, "New Horizons In Communications," beginning on Page 33, is designed to help prepare you and your company for tomorrow by understanding what's going on in telecommunications today.

Mary Y. McElveen

Editor